Have you ever heard Italians calling each other bimbo or bimba?
Or, if you are an art enthusiast and you’ve been to an Italian museum, have you ever seen the word bambinello related to sacred art paintings?
All these terms are related to the Italian word bambino.
And what does bambino mean? Well, you’ll find out today.
Bambino: meaning, synonyms, and uses of this Italian word
Bambino means “male baby” in Italian. As you probably already know, if you took our Italian lessons, if you want to say “female baby,” you just have to switch it to bambina.
Tesoro, aspettiamo un bambino.
Honey, we’re having a baby!
E quanti anni ha la tua bambina?
And how old is your child?
It can also be used along with its endearing forms bambinello and bambin to describe Baby Jesus.
Trivia: many Italian hospitals are called “Bambin Gesù”.
Synonyms
This word has a lot of synonyms in Italian. Here are some of them:
- bimbo
- bebè
- creatura
- pupo
- piccolo
- pargolo
And if you want to add some mockery (always in playful, funny contexts), the list goes on:
- moccioso, or mocciosetto
- marmocchio
- bambolo
- and many other words in dialect, you name it.
How to Use Bambino in Italian?
Now that you know the meaning of bambino in Italian, let’s see how Italians use it when they’re not talking about their babies.
As in American slang, people used to say bimbo or bimba to their loved ones for some time, but this expression is now perceived as cringy by Italian millennials and Gen-Z youth.
It is more common to use it:
- in a derogative way to address adults who are acting like a baby;
- ironically and playfully, when someone says something naive or “newbie-ish“.
Senti, bimbo, hai rotto le scatole!
Hey bimbo, I’ve had enough of you!
Eh, bimbo, ne ho visti di casi umani io.
Eh, bimbo, I’ve met plenty of charity cases.
And baby, in the end… it’s just you and me
Zakk Wylde’s quotes aside, there’s not much more to say about the meaning of bambino.
In the next posts, I’m going to teach you other Italian words that are used to describe humans and the relationships we form with one another.
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